Yesterdays posting of a reddish rather tall looking slim Canid in New York's Catskills prompted questions about the possibility of whether Eastern Wolves had managed to cross the St Lawrence River from Canada into New York State-----Many of our top Coyote and Wolf Biologist friends believe the animal in Joe Butera's pictures is an Eastern Coyote and not an Eastern or Gray Wolf...............I thank everyone who took the time to weigh in on this for all of us

From: Patterson, Brent (MNR) <brent.patterson@ontario.ca>
To: Tyler Wheeldon <twheeldon@gmail.com>; Meril, Rick
Cc: Rosatte, Rick (MNR) <rick.rosatte@ontario.ca>
Sent: Fri Sep 17 10:52:02 2010
Subject: RE: Fw: wolf

Hi Folks,
A lot of photos like this cross my desk where the sender wants to know whether they observed /photographed a coyote or a wolf (or in some cases an Eastern vs. Gray wolf).  In most cases we really can't tell from a picture alone, particularly with no accurate sense of scale.  Without knowing how large it is, the animal in the picture you sent could easily be a typical eastern coyote similar to those found in Ontario.  In cases like this, track measurements (length, width & stride length) as an indicator of size are likely to be more telling from a species ID point of view than a picture alone. However, as Tyler mentioned, because of their mixed ancestry, we see large variation in body size and behaviour among coyotes in Ontario.

Brent


Brent Patterson
Research Scientist – wolves and deer
Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources
Wildlife Research and Development Section
Trent University, DNA Building
2140 East Bank Drive
Peterborough, ON
K9J 7B8, CANADA
Tel: (705) 755-1553
Fax: (705) 755-1559
http://people.trentu.ca/brentpatterson/

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From: Tyler Wheeldon <twheeldon@gmail.com>
To: Meril, Rick
Cc: Patterson, Brent <brent.patterson@ontario.ca>
Sent: Fri Sep 17 09:49:17 2010
Subject: Re: Fw: wolf

Rick,

I'm really not sure, it is difficult to tell from the photos. I've been radio-collaring coyotes in southeastern ON for the past 4 months and there is definitely phenotypic variation, with some having a wolf-like appearance, but most are coyote-like. Such variation is not surprising for eastern coyotes given their mixed wolf-coyote ancestry.

If it is a wolf, then it is obviously not a gray wolf, it would have to be an eastern wolf disperser from southeastern ON or maybe southern Quebec. It could just be a large eastern coyote.

I cc'd Brent Patterson on this, maybe he has an opinion.

Tyler

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From: Camilla Fox <cfox@projectcoyote.org>
To: Meril, Rick
Sent: Thu Sep 16 22:11:05 2010
Subject: Re: wolf

Hard to say – but looks more coyote like to me. So difficult to tell from not-so-great photographs where size is unclear.

Camilla H. Fox, Executive Director
Project Coyote
P.O. Box 5007
Larkspur, CA 94977
ph: 415.945.3232
http://www.projectcoyote.org/

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From: Stuart Kenn <skenn@ontariopuma.ca>
To: Helen McGinnis <HelenMcGinnis@frontiernet.net>; Rick Rosatte (work) <rick.rosatte@ontario.ca>
Cc: Meril, Rick
Sent: Fri Sep 17 20:34:58 2010
Subject: Re: wolf

I would say coywolf. Appears to have a bit of red in it like the red wolf but somewhat coyote looking.

Cheers
Stuart

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From: Roland Kays <rkays@MAIL.NYSED.GOV>
To: Meril, Rick
Sent: Fri Sep 17 04:52:13 2010
Subject: Re: Fw: wolf

Looks like a skinny eastern coyote to me
roland